The five great monarchies of the ancient eastern world; or, The history, geography, and antiquites of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, and Persia . ERNED BEICKS. 413 it has been necessary occasionally to refer to theirornamentation ; but the subject is far from exhausted,and will now claim, for a short space, our specialattention. Beyond a doubt the chief adornment,both of palaces and temples, consisted of the colossalbulls and lions guarding the great gateways, to-gether with the sculptured slabs wherewith thewalls, both internal and external, were ordinarilycovered to the height of twelve
The five great monarchies of the ancient eastern world; or, The history, geography, and antiquites of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, and Persia . ERNED BEICKS. 413 it has been necessary occasionally to refer to theirornamentation ; but the subject is far from exhausted,and will now claim, for a short space, our specialattention. Beyond a doubt the chief adornment,both of palaces and temples, consisted of the colossalbulls and lions guarding the great gateways, to-gether with the sculptured slabs wherewith thewalls, both internal and external, were ordinarilycovered to the height of twelve or sometimes evenof fifteen feet. • These slabs and carved figures willnecessarily be considered in connexion with Assyriansculpture, of which they form the most importantpart. It will, therefore, only be noted at presentthat the extent of wall covered with the slabs was,in the Khorsabad palace, at least 4000 feet,^ ornearly four-fifths of a mile, while in each of theKoyunjik palaces the sculptures extended to consi-derably more than that distance. The ornamentation of the walls above the slabs,both internally and externally, was by means of. Assyrian patteiiis i^NiiiuikI j. bricks painted on the exposed side and coveredwith an enamel. The colours are for the mostpart somewhat pale, but occasionally they possess Fergxisson, Palaces of NinevcJi, p. 265. 414 THE SECOND MONARCHY. Chap. VI. some brilliancy. Predominant among the tints area pale blue, an olive green, and a dull yellow. Whiteis also largely used; brown and black are not infre-quent ; red is comparatively rare.^ The subjectsrepresented are either such scenes as occur upon
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